Production of scenic effects.



R. W. TULLY.

PRODUCTION OF SCENIC EFFECTS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.25. 19-18.

1,281,720. Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

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PRODUCTION OF SCENIC EFFECTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed'hpril 25, 1918. Serial No. 230,727.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD WALTON TULLY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Sierra Madre, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Production of Scenic Effects, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact deor smoke effect in a stage setting, a screen is stretched across the front of the stage and is illuminated to produce an apparent fog or smoke effect to the onlooker, and the intensity of this illumination of the screen is varied in sidewise shifting portions to produce an apparent wavy or traveling effect and an apparent variation in the density of the fog or smoke.

In order 'to carry-this method into effect use is made of a stage setting, as shown in. the accompanyin drawings which form part of th's speci lar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is .a front elevation of the 1mroved stage setting for producing a movin fog effect; I

T ig. 2 is'a sectional plan'view of the same on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic new of the illuminating arrangement.

The stage setting illustrated in the drawings is for the prologue of The Masquerader, a well known play at present enacted in various theaters in the United States. In this prologue two men, lohn Chillcote, M. P., and John Loder, accidentally meet in a London street at a lamp post during a heavy London fog, and the ob ect of this invention is to produce to the audience a fog effect which is realistic and approaching a natural effect. The stage 10 is provided with set pieces 11, a back drop 12 and a'street lamp 13 to represent a street scene. Across the front of the stage 10 is stretched a screen 14 made of gauze or other suitable mesh fabric and the front of the cation, and in which simi stage is provided with a row of electric foot lamps 15 and a reflecting means 16 for reflecting the rays of light from the lamps 15 in an upward direction onto the front of the screen 14 so as to illuminate the same from the front The back drop 12 is provided with translucent portions 20, 21 and similar translucent portions 22 and 23 are arranged in one of the set pieces 11, the said translucent portions representing windows or the like a distance above the stage floor, the translucent portions 20 and 21 appearing to the left of the street lamp 13 and the portions 22 and 23 being located to the right of the said street-lamp 13. Behind the translucent portions 20, 21, 22 and 23 are arranged electric lamps 30, 31, 32 and 33, the rays of light of which are deflected forwardly by suitable reflectors through the Patented Oct. 15, 1918, p

said translucent portions onto the screen 14 at the rear thereof. The rays of light from the street lamp 13 aid in the illumination of the rear of the screen 14, the street lamp 13 being rendered translucent to correspond to the illuminated translucent portions 20, 21, 22 and 23. Y

By the arrangement described, the front I of the screen 14 1s more intensely illuminated; by the lamps'15 than the rear of the screen 14, and an apparent f0 or smoke effect is produced. The footlig t lamps 15 are arranged in series 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 in circuit with the lamps 31, 13, 32, 33, 34 and 30, as plainly indicated in Fig. 3, and connected with a source of electrical energy 50 and with a switch 51 of any approved construction and under the control of the stage mechanic to permit the stage mechanic to successively dim down or bring up alternately opposite lamps 40 30,41 31, 42 13,

43 32, 44 33, and 45 34, to vary the intensity of the illumination of the screen in sidewise shifting vertical portions to produce an apparent wavy or'traveling effect and an ap parent variation in the density of the fog or smoke As shown in Fig. 3, the switch is provided with a rotatable member 52 provided on its peripheral face with spaced contact plates 53 electrically connected with the. shaft 54 of the member 52. The shaft 54 is engaged by brushes 55, and brushes 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, and 61- are connected with the lamps 4G, 41-, 42, 43, 44, 45 and are adapted to be engaged in rotation bythe contact plates 53 on ro tating the member 52 made of insulating material. On the operator turning the member 52 correspondingly sets of lamps 4O 30, 41 31, 42 13, 43 32, 44 33, and 45 34, are successively switched on and off, that is, dimmed down or brought up, according to the operator turning the member in the directionindicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 at any desired but preferably a variable speed, occasionally interrupting the turning motion to heighten the effect. It will be noticed that by the arrangement described an apparent haze, fog or smoke effect is produced as far as. the audience is concerned, and the fog or smoke appears to be shifting sidewise from the left to the right with an apparent variation of the density of the fog or smoke. The effect is heightened by the burnin of the street lamp 13 and further scenic e ects are produced by the illumination of the translucent portions 20, 21, 22 and 23 of the back drop 12 and the stage settings 11.

Although I have shown and described the invention in conjunction with a particular stage setting, it is evident that I do not limit myself to the stage setting as the same may be varied without deviating from the spirit of my invention, and I do not limit myself to the apparent traveling of the fog from the left to the right, as the switch mem ber may be turned in a reverse direction to produce an apparent traveling of the fog from the right to the'left.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The herein described method for pro ducing a moving fog or smoke effect in a stage setting, which consists in illuminating a screen stretched across the front ofthe stage to produce an apparent fog or smoke effect to the onlooker and varying the intensity of the said illumination of the screen in sidewise shifting portions to produce-an apparent wavy or traveling effect and an apparent variation in the density of the fog or smoke.

2. The herein described method for producing a moving fog or smoke effect in a stage setting which consists in illuminating a screen stretched across the front of the stage directly fromthe front and indirectly from the rear through a translucent medium to. produce an apparent fog or smoke effect to the onlooker, and simultaneously varying the said illumination of the screen in sidewise shifting portions to produce an apparent wavy or traveling effect and an apparent variation in the density of the fog or smoke.

3. The herein described method for producing a movin fog or smoke effect in a stage setting which consists in illuminating the front of a screen stretched across the .front of the stage by rays of light reflected in an upward direction from a row of electric foot lamps, illuminating the rear of the screen by rays of light passing from the rear forwardly through a translucent medium to produce an apparent fog or smoke effect to the onlooker and simultaneously interrupting the front and rear illuminations in sidewise shifting vertical portions by alternately switching corresponding. lamps down and up to produce an apparent wavy or travelin effect and an apparent variation in the density of the 0 or smoke.

RICHARD VT ALTON TU'LLY. 

